Did Atlantis Actually Exist?
- Image from: sattva / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Is Atlantis a myth or history? Many people were confused. According to Holly Hartman in the article â??Atlantis Myth or History?â? there is no actual proof that Atlantis existed.
Many people think that Atlantis was just a story fabricated by Plato to impress Athenian society. Others believed that the story is based on facts. Some argued about its location which could be anywhere in Antartica, Canary Islands, or the Americas. There are still others who think that Atlantis was Thera, a Greek islandâ??a theory fed by fairly new archaeological discoveries.
In Athanasius Kircher‘s Atlantis map, Atlantis existed in the Atlantic Ocean. The map is said to have placed south on top. Atlantis was derived from the Greek word â??Atlas.â? It was first discussed in Platoâ??s dialogues, Critias and Timaeus, written in the 360 BC. Atlantis was said to be a legendary island recognized as a naval power found in front of Herculesâ??s Pillars, which conquered several places in Africa and Western Europe in 9600 BC. Atlantis sank “in a single day and night of misfortune” after their failed attempt to conquer Athens.
Ancient writer differ in their opinions on the existence of Atlantis. The philosopher Crantor, a student of Xenocrates, who happened to be Platoâ??s student, is often cited as one of the writers who believed Atlantis to be historical fact. Though his work, a commentary on Plato’s Timaeus was lost, a fifth century AD Neoplatonist named Proclus reported about it. This passage supposedly has been depicted in modern literature as a claim that Crantor visited Egypt, had conversations with priests, and saw hieroglyphs that confirmed its existence.
In 2011, there was a National Geographic Documentary team supervised by Professor Richard Freund from Hartford University which claimed that they have found evidence somewhere in the southwestern part of Andalusia that Atlantis existed. The team placed Lacus Ligustinus, located in Doñana National Park marshlands situated between the Cadiz, Seville and Huelva provinces as the place. They say that a powerful tsunami had destroyed the city of Atlantis. Juan VillarÃas-Robles, an anthropologist, said that a newcomer named Richard Freund appeared and showed them his proof about King Solomonâ??s research concerning gold and ivory in the harbor city called Tartessos. The document showed that a settlement was established during the first millennium BC at the Doñana area. Rainer W. Kühne, a German researcher, put a similar theory, based on Cadiz where Atlantis could be located as placed by satellite imagery. But before that, in the 1920s, Adolf Schulten, a historian, had declared that Plato used the harbor city known as Tartessos as his proof for the Atlantis myth.
The debate on whether Atlantis existed or not is still up in the air until a solid proof is found that it indeed existed. The search continues.
Author Bio: Adam Fridman looks after the online marketing of TitleLoanPlace.com. It provides fast approval title loans and online title loans for cars.